Got out with Scott, Charlie, and Roger over from Texas today for some islamorada tarpon fishing in the everglades national park. We headed out early and stopped to catch bait on the way. With the winds back in the eastern quadrant and not blowing insanely, conditions have vastly improved from last week. Bait was plentiful and easy to catch, we even saw some large balls of bait in several areas which is great to see… summer time bait is showing up! We headed straight to where we found tarpon yesterday morning. Marked a few on the bottom but not rollers. We couldn’t get a bite though, watched another boat come in about 20 minutes after us, and get two bites back to back and land 1 fish. Frustrating when that happens! I moved 3 times trying to get in front of some hungry fish, but just wasn’t happening for us so I bailed out. Was headed back to the mainland to try, though saw another boat coming back from that way who had part of the same party as me. He said there wasn’t much out there, so we just turned around and fished out towards the end of the channels we were just in. We got lucky and a few fish floated by us and soon we hooked one! After that we proceeded to catch two more, and saw a few rolling around too as storms came in. We got soaked, but it was well worth it. We left the fish for the other boat that was with us so they could try to catch some, and finished the day with some large lemon shark, a cobia, and some other sharks. Some days you just have to keep grinding on the tarpon to make it happen. It’s tempting after 3, 4, 5 moves to just give up and try for easier fish, but persistence sometimes pays off in a big way. That’s tarpon fishing. 3 for 3
6/11/17 June Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing Report
Got out with Jeff and his son Jefferson today. Tarpon was on their list and young Jefferson hadn’t caught one before. Winds were blowing out of the east thankfully, no more south/west! Though it was a little breezier than I like but not too crazy. We headed out early and caught a few baits on the way. With the last of the incoming tide early, bait should be much easier the next week or so first thing. The fishing was a little tough, we found a few tarpon in one of the channels where they had been swarming last week, though last time I was there they had disappeared a couple days ago. We got a bite after 20 minutes and caught a nice 100 lb fish! After that we caught a few sharks, including a nice little hammerhead. We ran out off the mainland later on after about 4 different moves with no more tarpon. We caught the start of the incoming tide, and the sharks bit well but no tarpon. Some big blacktips kept us busy and a large nurse shark. Was happy to get one, hopefully the fish will show back up soon once the full moon goes away. 1 for 1
6/9/17 June Tarpon Fishing in the FLorida Keys
Got out with Matt, Steve and Augie today. Part of a big corporate group trip. We focused on tarpon. Had some leftover bait from yesterday and caught some early as I didn’t leave until 7 AM, didn’t see a whole lot of catchable bait out back though there was some if you really needed to scrap a few together. The tarpon were few and far between, nothing in the first couple channels we fished where they had been pretty consistent the last week. Hardly even any sharks! After our 4th move we hit another channel, and sat and waited. We had a fish free jump behind the boat when the tide started in which gave me some hope. After another 10 minutes, I marked about 10 fish going by and told the guys to get ready. A few minutes later, Augie hooked a nice 30 lb tarpon we landed. After that things dried up. We caught a few blacktips, then caught some trout and ladyfish for fun, and finished up with a big lemon shark. Got booked for tomorrow, not sure what we are doing but we should start to have the nice incoming tide early in the backcountry, which makes bait catching a whole lot easier. Hopefully as the wind swing back to the east and we get off the full moon, some fish will settle into the channels back there. 1 for 1
